This article discusses four strategies to help integrate creative-thinking skills into high school science instruction: SCAMPER; 6 Thinking Hats; Agreement, disagreement and irrelevance; Creative problem solving. A science classroom should be a place where creativity is ‘recognized and encouraged’. Creativity can be innate but also enhanced in the classroom. These four strategies can help teachers accomplish this goal. ‘SCAMPER’ is an acronym for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Magnify or Minify, Put to other use, Eliminate, Reverse or Rearrange. This method helps students think about how to consider things, in order to promote new ideas. It also helps students to think about things from a different angle or perspective by using different verbs to keep students organized. ‘Six Thinking Hats’ is a strategy that represents six different ways of thinking—emotional (red), positive (yellow), critical (black), objective (white), creative (green), big picture (blue). Students are divided into groups of 6 and each student is given a different piece of colored construction paper that the teacher can choose to make into a hat or even a bracelet or just can be folded in half and placed in front of the student’s desk. When given a problem or issue, the students have to stay in the specific mode of thinking that corresponds to their particular color. This helps students analyze an issue in a way that may be different from their own method. ‘Agreement, disagreement and irrelevance’ is a method to discuss open-ended problems or issues in science. After researching an issue or scenario, students are then asked to identify the various assertions, information, and claims found in their research and make a list of ideas that agree, disagree, or are irrelevant. The "irrelevant" category includes information or issues that cannot serve as evidence to directly support either the "agreement" or the "disagreement" position. Creative problem solving is similar to agreement, disagreement, and irrelevance where the students are given an open-ended issue but they must come up with a creative solution. They become self-directed learners through this strategy and should be reminded that they aren’t expected to find permanent or definitive answers. An example is to construct an egg catcher that will catch a falling egg safely without breaking the egg.
After reading this article, I found that all four strategies could be very useful in my future classroom. They all seem to get the students involved in a proactive way and to also think from a different viewpoint then they may be used to. SCAMPER and 6 Thinking Hats both seem to try and get students to think from a different angle and can lead to the promotion of new thoughts and ideas. Agreement, disagreement and irrelevance, and creative problem solving help students to approach a controversial issue or a debatable problem in science in an organized manner. Thinking creatively in science is a major part when it comes to thinking like a scientist. These strategies help students to shed a new light on a problem and act as a guide in the process of analyzing the situation at hand. Park, Soonhye , and Eulsun Seung. "Creativity in the Science Classroom." The ScienceTeacher , 75: 45-48. 28 Sep. 2008
<http://0vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/helin.uri.edu/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.29>.
Creativity in the Classroom
This article discusses four strategies to help integrate creative-thinking skills into high school science instruction: SCAMPER; 6 Thinking Hats; Agreement, disagreement and irrelevance; Creative problem solving. A science classroom should be a place where creativity is ‘recognized and encouraged’. Creativity can be innate but also enhanced in the classroom. These four strategies can help teachers accomplish this goal.
‘SCAMPER’ is an acronym for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Magnify or Minify, Put to other use, Eliminate, Reverse or Rearrange. This method helps students think about how to consider things, in order to promote new ideas. It also helps students to think about things from a different angle or perspective by using different verbs to keep students organized.
‘Six Thinking Hats’ is a strategy that represents six different ways of thinking—emotional (red), positive (yellow), critical (black), objective (white), creative (green), big picture (blue). Students are divided into groups of 6 and each student is given a different piece of colored construction paper that the teacher can choose to make into a hat or even a bracelet or just can be folded in half and placed in front of the student’s desk. When given a problem or issue, the students have to stay in the specific mode of thinking that corresponds to their particular color. This helps students analyze an issue in a way that may be different from their own method.
‘Agreement, disagreement and irrelevance’ is a method to discuss open-ended problems or issues in science. After researching an issue or scenario, students are then asked to identify the various assertions, information, and claims found in their research and make a list of ideas that agree, disagree, or are irrelevant. The "irrelevant" category includes information or issues that cannot serve as evidence to directly support either the "agreement" or the "disagreement" position.
Creative problem solving is similar to agreement, disagreement, and irrelevance where the students are given an open-ended issue but they must come up with a creative solution. They become self-directed learners through this strategy and should be reminded that they aren’t expected to find permanent or definitive answers. An example is to construct an egg catcher that will catch a falling egg safely without breaking the egg.
After reading this article, I found that all four strategies could be very useful in my future classroom. They all seem to get the students involved in a proactive way and to also think from a different viewpoint then they may be used to. SCAMPER and 6 Thinking Hats both seem to try and get students to think from a different angle and can lead to the promotion of new thoughts and ideas. Agreement, disagreement and irrelevance, and creative problem solving help students to approach a controversial issue or a debatable problem in science in an organized manner. Thinking creatively in science is a major part when it comes to thinking like a scientist. These strategies help students to shed a new light on a problem and act as a guide in the process of analyzing the situation at hand.
Park, Soonhye , and Eulsun Seung. "Creativity in the Science Classroom." The Science Teacher , 75: 45-48. 28 Sep. 2008
<http://0vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/helin.uri.edu/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.29>.
Jillian B.